Center of the Cross
by Tako no Taiko
Summary: It is the year 2176, 15 years after the 3rd world war. During this war humanity created a new breed of perfect soldiers that are a mix between humans and animals. They are called Crosses. Now, humanity is having to deal with the repercussions of the Cross
1. Chapter 1

"And in other news there was a break out from Yashano Ana, the Cross's prison, as it is locally called. The man is described as Caucasian with long white-silver hair, amber eyes, claws, and long canine teeth. He considered armed and dangerous. If you have any information on his whereabouts, report it to the police immediately, but do not approach him. It could mean your very..."

Sango shut her tele-monitor off with a frustrated sigh. This new escape was especially difficult to track. He had some how found a way to either turn off or remove the tracking device embedded at the base of his skull. The younger generations just seemed to get more and more innovative.

Damn it! The frustrated lieutenant pounded her fists on her desk. That damn dog… no…monster…gahh! That's not right either. 'It's not _politically_ correct,' Sango thought with venomous sarcasm. She let out a hard sigh and flopped back into her chair.

She had been at work since 6:30 that morning and now her time monitor read 11:30 pm. She needed to go home. She had a splitting headache, her eyes were starting to blur everything together, and she felt hot and claustrophobic just from sitting in her office all day raking over file after file.

With a heavy sigh Sango dragged herself to her b-17 vehicle, an older model, but it got her where she wanted to go. She got to the door and bent down to look straight into the security monitor and obediently kept her eye open for the retina scan.

"Retina scan confirmed," the female computer voice chirped at her. "Welcome Sango. Where would you like to go?"

"Home," she belted out with a heavy sigh. Car rides were the most relaxing part of her day. She didn't have to think or pay attention to anything. She could just sit back, close her eyes, and let her mind go blank. Though sometimes she would just think about the past and how everything ended up the way it is now. And sometimes she let her mind wander, even to the painful memories, about her family, her father, her brother…

Her father had been a Capitan for the Allied army in the Great Biological War. That's what they called it now. Sango thought it wasn't quite right for that war, but it fit in its own way. The war had started off like any other war had. One nation declared war on another nation, and they both called upon their allies to help conquer one another. It soon escalated into World War III. In the past everyone had thought a 3rd world war would have ended in the destruction of humanity because of nuclear weapons. But no such weapons were used. The human race was not destroyed because of this last "Great War," but a small part of its humanity was.

The war had started in the year 2145, five years before Sango had been born, and ten years before her father would die. The actual war lasted for 16 years. Even now, 15 years later, the world was still feeling the repercussions, as if it had just ended yesterday. Why? Why was this war so different? Because man-kind had really outdone its self this time, that's why.

No one knows which country had been the first one to have a successful cross, but it was the Americans who formulated the bright idea of using the crosses in battle. War always changes the perception of one's morals. At the beginning of the war, even the mere idea of using a cross for war was unthinkable. Hell, the idea of a cross to the public would have been unthinkable. But after six years of nothing but destruction, people wanted the war to end. They called upon the government to make this happen. So it responded by using a new breed of soldiers, a cross between humans and animals, completely loyal to there "masters." There were 3 different kinds of these crosses: GAC (genetically altered child), TAC (technologically altered child), and GEC (genetically engineered child). It wasn't that uncommon to find a mix of the three classes. These crosses were unstoppable. Modern technology could not detect them, they could see 20 times better than the average human, maybe more depending on what type of animal they were crossed with. The harder the scientists worked, the more invincible they became.

The first wave of crosses destroyed masses of normal human regiments in mere hours. They were unstoppable, until they came up against an enemy battery not unlike themselves. Finally, normal human soldiers became obsolete and the crosses became the soldier of choice for every single country in the war.

The first two waves of crosses were completely loyal to the country that had created them, and thought nothing of the fact that they were just puppets, and the fact that everybody feared and hated them for what they were. They were so focused on the battle and their programming, they didn't even think of what would happen when the time came when they were no longer needed.

Then something unexpected happened. No one knows where or how it started, perhaps not even they know. The only thing the scientists (or creators as the crosses call them) know is that it started in the third generation of crosses that were sent out to fight. They started to develop an independency, a spark of free thought, a spark of question. But along with that independency, they started to develop a group conscience. The crosses could start communicating to each other by just using their thoughts. They could exchange information in the blink of an eye. If, for example, one cross needed to know how to fly a helicopter, he could merely search out a cross that contained the knowledge and obtain it from that cross's memories. Knowledge and experience flowed through the link. Through this link they could feel when a cross connected to them died. However, through the link, all their knowledge and memories were kept intact and stored in each and every cross's memory unit attached inside their skulls and connected to their brains.

Soon this third generation started making demands and began to disobey orders. The reason for the war then changed, the enemy changed. The crosses started to unite, no matter what country they were from. As the crosses united, so did the countries that created them. These perfect soldiers were now the enemy. The creators were now commissioned to find a way to stop the crosses, even to kill them with a minimum human loss. They created viruses to specifically target the crosses and the link they all shared. But the creators had created the crosses to well. They were able to adapt to the viruses, and after each attempt, it became harder to kill them.

Soon the creators turned away from viruses and turned toward containment technology. A new branch of defense was created, the Cross Control Force (CCF). These people, often times old crosses from the 1st and 2nd waves who were still loyal to there country, were specially trained to hunt down and detain the newer generation of crosses. Since technology could not detect or record crosses, tracking devices were implanted to all those that were captured. Hundreds of detention facilities were built (mostly on remote islands, very few in populated areas). Soon hundreds of crosses were caged, to the relief of society.

Lieutenant Sango's b-17 finally stopped in front of her shaggy apartment complex. 'The CCF might be important to ease the mind of society, but it sure pays shit,' thought an exhausted Sango. She dragged herself up the stairs that led to apartment, mumbled her name for voice recognition, and flopped straight onto her bed without even changing her clothes.


	2. Chapter 2

Don't own inuyasha

A/N Hey guys! Hope you're enjoying the fic so far. Just a small warning, Sango, in this chappie, might come off a bit rougher around the edges than she actually is in the series. Though my beta, God bless, totally fixed up Inuyasha's character. Thank you CrimsonShiva.

Well w/o further a due, here's

Chapter 2

_Crash! _Sango woke up with a start and grabbed her pistol that was always under her pillow for the sake of her paranoid mind. 'Loud noises in my kitchen is _not_ what I should be waken' up to 3:20 in the morning, especially when I live alone,' thought the surprisingly clear minded lieutenant.

As she crept across her living room, that lead into her kitchen, Sango could hear muffled cussing from what sound like a distraught and angry female. While keeping her gun up and cocked, Sango flipped on her kitchen light, located the intruder, and shouted: "Hands up where I can see them! I have a gun, and boy am I itchen' to use it!"

"Wait Sango!" cried the intruder. "It's me!" The intruder straightened herself out from the bending position she was previously in.

Sango stopped and squinted before she asked, "Kagome?" She lowered her gun and sighed a breath of relief. "Holy fucking shit Kags; you scared the hell out of me." The Asian girl gave her friend a watery smile.

"My, my, Sango. I wasn't aware that shit could fornicate, much less be holy."

"What are you doing here? I wasn't supposed to pick you up at the airport till 6:45. Why didn't you call? And what… _what_ are you doing messin' up my cake! I hope you know that was going to be my breakfast. It wasn't meant to end up splattered on my best friend, and my already grimy floor, thank you very much."

Kagome laughed heartily at her friend's ranting as she slid onto the stool standing by the island. "You done yet?"

"No! I haven't even begun to chew you out." Kagome recognized an empty threat when she heard one.

"Well now you are. To answer your questions, I caught an earlier flight. I tried calling you on your cell, but you never picked up. So I grabbed a PTU (public transport unit) and made my way over here. You programmed you security system to accept my voice command, so I let myself in. I didn't want to go into your bedroom and wake you because the last time I did that I got a barrel of a gun shoved down my throat. Seems like I didn't do so hot this time either." Sango chuckled.

"Nope, doesn't look like it. But still, what were you doing with my cake? I was really looking forward to eating that cake you moron. I didn't think you liked lemon cake anyway."

"I don't, but with all the frosting on it, and in perfect form, I just couldn't resist. And moving on, since I'm coated in a layer of white frosting, do you think I'll be able to borrow one you your shirts to sleep in and throw this one in the washer?"

"I don't know Kags," Sango winked and began ticking off on her fingers. "You break into my house, wake me up at a God forsaken hour, and ruin my breakfast. Name one good reason I should let you impinge upon my hospitality."

"Well there is the fact that you offered to let me stay in your flat while I'm here on business… a week ago. But if that doesn't work, I seem to recall an incident involving your mother's brand new Silver-wing 29. Can she still not figure out how it got to the bottom of the lake? Well I would be happy to give her a call and solve that mystery for her."

"Fine! Fine, you can stay the night. Traitor." Kagome shrugged, grinned, and then walked to Sango's room to get a change of clothes.

Now that Sango was alone, something tugged at the back of her mind. Usually she didn't get this feeling unless she was figuring out a case, or when something just didn't add up. 'But why am I having this feeling now? This is Kagome we're talking about. The most honest and righteous alive! Ah get a grip, I'm just exhausted. Lack of sleep that's all… But I had my cell on the whole time… I'll check it later. But why would she lie? And then there was the cake. Kags would never eat it if it hadn't been touched.' Sango's thoughts were interrupted when her friend walked out of her bathroom wearing her overly large Dancing Druid's shirt, a techno-Celtic band that was popular a few years back before they broke up.

"Hey," called Sango.

"Yeah?"

"Where's your luggage?"

"Oh that," Kagome rolled her eyes. "They lost it. They say they'll send it here as soon as they find it. With my luck they'll find after I go home and then you'll have to send it to me and it will get lost in the mail."

Sango chuckled. "Don't say that. Anyway, I have work tomorrow and I want to catch up on some sleep. You know where the extra blankets are, so make yourself comfortable on the couch. Night."

"Good night Sango. Thanks again for letting me stay."

Sango yawned, waved her hand while walking toward her bedroom and mumbled, "Don't mention it."

Kagome walked briskly to a little coffee shop near Sango's work place, where she was to meet up with an old friend. Kagome liked the city, but preferred her remote rural area more so. Cities were just so automated. She did like the fact that the roads in cities were mostly underground. Now there was only a 3 chance that a pedestrian would get hit by a TP (transport unit). The old roads of the past are used for walkers, joggers, and even some roads were torn up (mostly the roads on the outskirts of the city) and rows of trees were planted in their place to make peace with the environmentalists, tree-huggers and the like. Even with this though, Kagome still felt that there wasn't enough green or other earthy tones. In her heart of hearts, she would always be a country girl, even though she was conceived and born in the city.

Kagome then turned her thoughts to her mother's shrine, where she grew up with her family. The war killed her father and devastated her mother, but she was only six when he died, so she only had vague memories of warmth and safety. Kagome's mother hated the war, so in her own way, she tried to fight against the destruction it caused. So when Kagome was eight, her mother adopted an orphaned one year old baby, his name was Inuyasha.

Inuyasha's mother died a few hours after birth for unknown reasons, though his birth had gone smoothly. The doctor attended her was a good friend of Inuyasha's mother, and had been able to the hide the child for a while after his mother had died because of his… unusual physical features. On top of the babe's head were two white puppy dog ears and in his mouth were already growing small canine teeth. The doctor could only assume the father was a dog cross. Fortunately holographic technology had advanced a lot and the doctor, as a favor to his dead friend, had been able to get a hold of a small wearable holographic generator. The device was able to make the child look fully human by placing a tight holographic image around the babe, almost like a second skin. This alone saved the child from being sent to a lab for a life of misery and tests.

Kagome's mother knew how "special" Inuyasha was, but still loved him and supported him. Kagome was on her way to meet her brother who was now going to Tokyo University on an athletic scholarship.

The Asian girl stepped into the small personal coffee shop and was struck with a wave of nostalgia of her own college days. She, however, was pulled short of her reminiscences when a crude, but friendly voice called out to her.

"Kagome!" A grinning black haired teen, dressed in baggy kaki pants and a bright red shirt, waved to her.

"Inuyasha!" She strolled over to her brother and gave him an excited hug before sitting down on the stool next to his.

"I ordered you your fave, white chocolate mocha with cream."

"Now I know you love me."

"Feh," he brushed it off and took a sip of his coconut flavored Italian soda. He had missed Kagome's presence, her laugh, her scent: jasmine and a faint hint of thunderstorm.

"So how's it going Inu? College life everything you ever dreamed of?" Inuyasha snapped back from his reveries of childhood.

He snorted at that comment. "The sports are ok, but I hate having to pretend to be something I'm not."

Kagome sighed. She knew full well of her brother's frustrations at having to hide his true nature all the time. He had explained it once as claustrophobia. With his father's genes, he was able to jump several yards in the air without really trying, run incredibly fast, hear things normal humans couldn't, and see better than any human could hope to see. But in society, he was expected to give up those abilities. He was confined to the narrowness and limitations of society. The human skin he was forced to wear choked him so he couldn't breath. "I won't pretend to understand how you feel, but you know I will do anything I can to help you. After all, I am your big sister. Gotta watch over my one and only _little_ brother." She poked him playfully.

"Kick your ass," he smirked at that last comment.

"So, how is the school part of university?"

"Keh, you're worse than mother." She stared at him waiting for an answer. He reclined in his seat with an exhausted sigh. "They are good enough to keep the scholarships. You know how I feel about all that useless shit they teach in school." Kagome sighed and shook her head slightly. No matter what, Inuyasha would never belong to human society. In his heart of hearts, he belonged to nature and the adventures it would bring.

Nearby a tall man in a black suede trench coat and sharp new Xenon sunglasses stopped thumbing through the newspaper to slurp his plain black coffee. He brushed a hand through his thick bangs, and briefly glanced at the newborn merriment of siblings reunited. He let out a breath, slipped on his leather gloves, and slid a cartridge into his semi-automatic RS478 patented rifle, with a click.


	3. Chapter 3

"Damn it! Damn it all straight to…"

"Lieutenant!" Sango's rant was interrupted by her partner of 4 years, Miroku Hasegawa.

"What do you want lech? I'm frustrated 'cause I've been pouring over these files since last night, have bags under my eyes big enough to hold my b-17 in…"

"Sango!" Shouted an exasperated Miroku. "We have a lead!"

"…" They just stood there for a few seconds in total silence, frozen in their poses. "Well why didn't you say so in the first place? Who's the source?"

"Come on, I'll tell you after we get into the car." Sango practically rushed her partner to the underground parking system. Miroku shoved Sango to the passenger side. After seeing her exasperated look, he smirked, "I know where were going. You don't." She rolled her eyes and slid in.

Once inside, and course laid in, Sango sharply turned her gaze on Miroku and said, "Ok, spill."

"Ok, so you know Kawaguchi-san?"

"Yeah, he's the director of the Tokyo Sector CCF."

"Right, but even less known about him is that he's a first wave cross."

"What? How do you know that?"

"Well our chief is good friends with him. But that's beside the point. Though our current case was a GEC, the sperm in which his genetic cells came from was from an already successful cross. Guess who daddy was?"

"I'm in no mood for guessing games," Sango growled at her partner.

"Well he was none other than the all powerful Inutaishou."

"The dog general? You've got to be kidding me. Even though he was one of the earlier crosses he stilled remained one of the most powerful crosses throughout the entire war till his death."

"Correct. Well even though Inutaishou wasn't really involved in the creation of our friend, he still considered him his son, and took him under his wing, named the little tyke, and trained him."

Sango covered her face with her hands and groaned. "Tell me this has a happy ending for us…"

"Well Kawaguchi-san just so happened to be best friends with Inutaishou. And has agreed to answer some of our questions."

"That's something I guess."

"More than we have now," mumble Miroku. They sat there in silence for a while, both contemplating there current case. About half way to the Tokyo CCF building, a thought struck Sango.

"Hey Miroku…"

"Yeah?"

"What kind of cross is Kawaguchi-san?"

"Uh… I believe a dog cross… why do you ask?"

"Oh nothing. Just wondering." They then fell back into their heavy silence until they reached the Tokyo CCF parking center.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"Father?" A young boy, no more than 10 in appearance, stared up at the tall man standing before him.

"Yes, my son?" The tall man had long white hair pulled back into a high ponytail.

"Why are we here?"

"We are here because we were created," the man stated the statement as if it were simple fact.

"Why were we created?"

"Because the creators deemed to create us."

"Who are the creators?"

"Humans." The word was said without bias or emotion, but when the boy looked into his father's amber eyes, the word suddenly seemed like a slander, a profanity, a word to be said only behind closed doors.

"Why do you hate humans?"

"Who said anything about hate?"

"Then why to you loathe humans?"

With a heavy sigh, the man looked into the curiosity filled eyes so similar to his own. The air was thick and the tension the question caused in the man was palpable. The silence seemed to stretch for an eternity to the boy. Finally, his father spoke. "The humans who created us think themselves gods. They lust for power and worldly riches, so much so, that their greed consumes them to the point where right and wrong no longer exist. We are nothing more than puppets. I am cursed with this life for eternity." Suddenly he knelt down in front of the boy and lowered his voice to a mere whisper. "You were not meant for this life my son, my Sesshoumaru. I want you to promise me, promise me you will become free and live a life of your choosing. Promise me."

"Yes, father. Will I ever see you again…father?"

"No, this is good bye."

A single tear ran down the boys face. He father had come into there tiny cell area earlier that day with news that he had been 'volunteered' for a practical suicide mission. Just then the doors opened and two human guards stepped in.

"It is time. Dog Demon…" The elder dog cross stood to face the man, having gone through the activation process many times. These sequence of words activated the implants in his brain to allow the creators complete domination over him. He could do nothing but obey their every whim and command. "Dog General…"

"Yes." He replied with a relaxed voice though his body went stiff and his eyes glowed red.

"Dog Demon General…listen…"

At the same time two people, a man and a woman, shot up, awaken unknowingly by the same nightmare. The last image filling their minds' eye was a tall majestic man with long white hair and fiercum red eyes that were nothing but a blank void.

The woman that had awakened rubbed the sweat from her forehead. Didn't her friend ever keep the AC on? She dragged herself to the kitchen and grabbed a handful of ice and popped it into her mouth. She had been having that same dream off and on for the past month. It disturbed her greatly. She could find no connection between herself and the two men in the dream. For a while now she felt as if she was changing, her world was changing. An internal feeling told her soon, nothing would be the same. Kagome felt as if the dream was slowly turning her away from sanity. Ever since she started having the dream, she noticed little changes about herself. Like when she looked in the mirror it seemed as if the color of her dark brown eyes had begun to fade, but pictures from her childhood told her they had always been that way. That's another thing that disturbed her, pictures of herself from the past… she seemed to be fading from them as well.

And she felt as if the world was changing, becoming brighter. Unfortunately, she didn't mean brighter in the sense that the world was becoming a happier place. She literally started to see the world with more intensity. She felt as if her eyes were becoming overly sensitive; hues became more intense. Some lights were becoming unbearable, like the light coming from a television or computer monitor. She could no longer stare at either for more than an hour without developing a blinding migraine.

In truth, this was why she had come to visit Sango, under the guise of visiting her best friend. She could no longer do her work as it required a vast amount of time in front of a computer. Kagome had not told anyone of her concerns for fear they would think her mad. She wasn't even sure she could tell Sango. Sango would most likely recommend she should go see a doctor, but ever fiber of her being screamed at her that that was a very bad idea.

The real reason for her visit was that Sango lived in the same city as Inuyasha's university. Kagome recalled the many conversations she had had with her younger sibling about the differences between his senses and her own. That afternoon after they had left the coffee shop, Kagome and Inuyasha had headed over to a small study room in the library where they would not be disturbed or overheard.

"So… What is so pressing and secretive that we had to come all the way to the library?" Kagome had just finished shutting the door to the tiny study room when Inuyasha asked.

"What? You don't like the library? Call the press!"

"Kagome…" Inuyasha stared at his sister, annoyed.

Kagome sighed and leaned against the desk in the back of the small cubed room, staring at the floor.

"I think… I think I'm going crazy," she all but whispered, her eyes never leaving the floor.

"Why?"

"Because…" Kagome then started to recount all her feelings, suspicions, and fears to the one person in her whole world who she knew without a doubt would believe her.

After she finished she looked up at her brother with pleading eyes.

"Fuck, Kagome… Have you thought about talking to a professional, a doctor perhaps?"

"Yes! I've thought about it. But I have this horrible feeling that it will be the worst decision I ever make. Are you saying I shouldn't trust that feeling?" Now standing, she stared at Inuyasha intently. He stayed quiet, a weird look in his eye.

"No," he whispered. "You should always trust your instincts. But what do you expect me to do about it? Come on woman, honestly what do you think I can do?"

"Inuyasha, for the last time, my name is not woman. It's Kagome, Ka-go-me. Got that?! And as for what I expect of you, I expect you to be a supporting brother who maybe has an inkling of knowledge about what I'm going through. All your life you've been different from us and your senses are beyond anything we could ever imagine. And I know what I said sounds crazy and impossible, but I know in my heart of hearts that this is really happening to me. And I thought you could be the one person I could come to who would actually take me seriously. So tell me honestly, what do you think is going on?"

"Here is what I can tell you, your scent hasn't changed since the last time I saw you. That picture of us I keep hidden in my desk, you are not fading in it."

"But…"

"Just let me finish! You have, however, grown taller. Last time I checked, you only came up to my mouth, now you almost come up to the middle of my nose. You used to blink more, but now you hardly blink at all. And your eye color has changed. They're lighter, not by much, but they are. So you have changed. But why, I have no idea."

"Do you think… no it's a dumb idea."

"Just spit it out."

"Do you think I could be a cross? But then hidden like you, and now my cross side is emerging?"

"Keh! What kinda theory is that?"

"It's the only thing that really fits. And it's the only thing we have to go on. But how to find out one way or another…"

"Well, the government is pretty tight lipped about the creation of crosses, but if I were you, I would try and research them. You do have a friend who hunts us for a living, so I'm sure she would know a thing or two."

"Inuyasha! That's not a fair thing to say about Sango."

"Feh," ignoring the comment he went on. "Also, you might try talking to mom. Ask her if anything weird ever went on while she was pregnant with you, and ask about your dad too. Other than that, I don't know what to do. Call me if there are anymore changes. But I have to go to soccer practice. See ya later Kagome. " With that he strode out of the study room.

Kagome walked to the bus stop in such deep thought that she didn't notice the same man clad in a suede trench coat from the coffee shop following her.


End file.
